August 2003

The Business Council of Australia has released guidelines aimed at encouraging big business to keep more older Australians in the workforce.

Age Can Work: A Business Guide for Supporting Older Workers aims to addressing the significant issue of Australia’s ageing population and its impact on Australia’s workforce and economy.

The guidelines will be circulated to Australia’s top 100 companies which collectively employ one out of every 10 Australians.

They were developed in response to an ACTU–BCA joint report – Age Can Work: The Case for Older Australians Staying in the Workforce – highlighting the business case for increasing the work force participation rates among older workers and the factors restricting ongoing participation.

The guidelines set out a range of practical and immediate ways that business can begin to address the barriers, pressures and prejudices related to age that can occur in the workplace and limit the number of older Australians staying in the workforce.

Age Can Work: A Business Guide for Supporting Older Workers